The awards focus on the UK’s female talent pipeline at below management level, while also celebrating Champions, recognising the efforts of senior leaders, both male and female, who are actively supporting the female pipeline.

Brigid serves as vice-chair of Reed Smith’s women’s initiative network’s London committee and regularly organises panel discussions and events for women within the firm. She is an aspirational role model for many of the firm’s associates, and serves as a career advisor to seven women, devoting time and energy to mentor them through their careers and the obstacles they face along the way. In particular, Brigid has an interest in assisting women among the associate body who feel that combining partnership with family is not possible.

Vanessa Vallely, founder of WeAreTheCity, said “Once again the response to the Rising Star awards has been amazing, both in terms of the amount of nominations received and the calibre of entries. We know there is an amazing amount of female talent across the UK and it gives us such pleasure to be able to shine a light on these women’s achievements through our awards. I am looking forward to celebrating our 200 strong shortlist before heading in to the final round of judging to identify our top 100 winners.”

All shortlisted individuals, judges and sponsors will be invited to celebrate the achievements of the shortlist at an event sponsored by Bloomberg on 8 June. The 200 women will now face the final judging period and the public vote. The overall top 100 winners will be announced on 19 June 2017.